News You Can Bruise for 2005 July 29

The subtext of some lists of banned books is that these books are inherently worth reading because someone doesn't want you to read them. Otherwise bookstores wouldn't have special displays and sales on the banned books. But it needs to be said and I'll say it: some of these books are just plain lousy.

For instance, Catcher in the Rye. Boringest goddamned book I ever read. I also really hated Bless Me, Ultima, but that might have been because I was forced to read it in high school. The Goosebumps series: pure fluff. Etcetera. It would be useful if the book-banners consistently banned only stuff like Huckleberry Finn and A Wrinkle In Time, because then we could use their reactions as an oracle for literary quality, but unfortunately that doesn't work.